Ohio panel approves labor agreement with SEIU

COLUMBUS, Ohio 
A state panel has approved a deal to extend Ohio's current contract with a union representing roughly 3,600 registered nurses, parole officers and other state workers.

The state Controlling Board agreed Monday to extend the contract of the Service Employees International Union, District 1199, until 2015.

The current contract expires at the end of May. Union members are still voting on the deal.

Base wages wouldn't increase under the agreement, but some newer employees will be eligible for "step" increases in their salary range. The contract doesn't include some concessions, such as furlough days, that the union made in the first two years of its current agreement.

The SEIU is the second union to reach a swift agreement with the state following Ohio voters' rejection of a collective bargaining law.